Priority subjects of HIV surveillance in Vietnam

Priority subjects of HIV surveillance in Vietnam (Internet image)

Methods for HIV surveillance in Vietnam

According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 3 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT, methods for HIV surveillance include:

- Counselling before and after HIV testing;

- HIV testing;

- Collection, consolidation of and report on epidemiological indicators of HIV/AIDS.

Priority subjects of HIV surveillance in Vietnam

According to Clause 2, Article 3 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT, the priority subjects of HIV surveillance include:

- Drug users;

- Prostitutes;

- Homosexual active people;

- Transgender people;

- Spouses and other family members living together with HIV-positve people; spouses of the persons prescribed in Points a, b, c and d of this Clause;

- Sex partners of HIV-positive people;

- People infected with STDs;

- Frequent travelers;

- Tuberculosis patients;

- People having clinical symptoms of HIV/AIDS infection;

- Prisoners, persons held in detention, and persons held in custody at reform schools, compulsory education institutions or rehabilitation centers;

- Other subjects.

HIV testing and counselling process in Vietnam

Pursuant to Article 4 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT, the process of counseling and testing for HIV infection is as follows:

- Counselling before and after HIV testing:

+ Counselling before and after HIV testing at healthcare facilities, compulsory education institutions, reform schools, rehabilitation centers, social protection centers, prisons, detention centers and other custody facilities shall be done according to regulations in Circular  01/2015/TT-BYT on guidelines on counseling for HIV/AIDS prevention and control at healthcare facilities;

+ Counselling before and after HIV testing in community shall be done according to Decision 2673/QD-BYT on promulgation of HIV testing and counseling guidelines in community.

- HIV testing shall be done according to professional guidelines in Decision 2674/QD-BYT on promulgation of the national guidelines for HIV testing.

Procedures for collection, consolidation of and report on epidemiological indicators of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam

According to Article 5 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT, the procedures for collection, consolidation of and report on epidemiological indicators of HIV/AIDS are as follows:

- Epidemiological indicators of HIV/AIDS of the person subject to HIV testing shall be collected, consolidated and reported as follows:

+ HIV screening facility shall collect and transfer information of people who test positive for HIV via a system for management of HIV/AIDS information (hereinafter referred to as “HIV-INFO”) or as a physical document using the form in Appendix 1 enclosed with Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT to the facility where the confirmatory HIV testing is performed;

+ The confirmatory HIV testing facility shall receive the electronic document via the HIV-INFO system or printed document from the HIV screening and testing center. In case the person subject to HIV testing directly have test at the confirmatory HIV testing facility, this facility shall collect information as prescribed in Point a Clause 1 of Article 5 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT.

- The update of information, transfer and return of the confirmed positive result shall be done as follows:

+ After the confirmed HIV result is presented, the confirmatory HIV testing facility is responsible for updating the testing result on the HIV-INFO system and transfering an electronic document or physical document on the confirmed positive result to the screening facility or returning the confirmed positive result to the person subject to HIV testing;

+ The HIV screening facility shall receive the confirmed positive result from the confirmatory HIV testing facility and update the confirmed HIV-positive test results (if any) as prescribed in Appendix 1 enclosed with Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT and send the updated information to the confirmatory HIV testing facility.

- The confirmatory HIV testing facility shall prepare a HIV surveillance report prescribed in Appendix 1 enclosed  with Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT and send the report to the HIV/AIDS surveillance agency prescribed in Article 6 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT.

- The HIV screening facility and the confirmatory HIV testing facility shall transfer information of the HIV-positive person to the HIV/AIDS treatment facility registered by the HIV-positive person.

Procedures for notifying positive HIV test results to agencies and units tasked with HIV/AIDS epidemiological surveillance in Vietnam

According to Article 6 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT, procedures for notifying positive HIV test results to agencies and units tasked with HIV/AIDS epidemiological surveillance are as follows:

- After the confirmed HIV-positive test result is presented, the confirmatory HIV testing facility shall notify to an agency or unit tasked with HIV/AIDS epidemiological surveillance of a province or district, the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and Pasteur Institute in Nha Trang (hereinafter referred to as “Institute”) and VAAC (hereinafter referred to as “HIV/AIDS surveillance agencies”) through the HIV-INFO system.

The confirmatory HIV testing facility affiliated to the Ministry or Central authority shall notify the positive HIV test result to the HIV/AIDS surveillance agency of the province where the testing facilty is located.

- After receiving the notification of positive HIV test result of the confirmatory HIV testing facility, HIV/AIDS surveillance agencies shall manage information of the person having confirmed positive result according to the regulations in Article 8 of Circular 07/2023/TT-BYT.

Nguyen Ngoc Que Anh

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